The Oil Capitals played the Swan Valley Stampeders at home on Saturday night, taking an early leading but ultimately dropping the game with a final score of 4-3. They then took off to Winkler to play the Flyers and after an early lead Winkler came back to tie the game. Virden took another lead but once again the Flyers tied it up. The Oil Capitals however managed to pull off the win in the shootout.
The first period of the home game against Swan Valley was quiet with only one scorer. The Oil Capital’s Hunter Andrew scored his third of the season at 11:19 to give Virden the 1-0 lead headed into the second period.
The second period was also fairly quiet with Virden’s Nolan Dawson scoring his second at 8:33. With that 2-0 lead the Oil Capitals continued with the momentum. Virden’s Dylan Halliday scored his fifth of the season at 16:06 to give Virden the 3-0 lead headed into the third period.
The third period kicked off early when Swan Valley’s Frazer Dodd scored his sixth of the season at 3:12 to cut into Virden’s lead making the score 3-1. The Stampeders took advantage of the power play with Josh Maucieri scoring his third at 15:43 to make the score just 3-2 for the Oil Capitals. Swan Valley’s Nathan Carl scored with just 1:20 left in the game to tie the game and force the overtime period.
With the overtime being scoreless the went to a shootout. Kolten Kanaski and Hunter Cloutier of the Oil Capitals could not get their shots to go into the net. However Swan Valley’s Josh Maucieri missed his shot but, with Nathan Carl and Frazer Dodd scoring their shots, the Stampeders took the game in the shootout
Swan Valley’s Michael Davis picked up the win stopping 32 of 35 for a save percentage of 91.4%. Virden’s Riley Wallace picked up the overtime loss stopping 39 of 42 shots, for a save percentage of 92.9%.
The game in Winkler against the Flyers was busy with a final score of 8-7 after the shootout. It started at 8:45 into the game with Owen Blocker of the Oil Capitals scoring his second of the season making the score 1-0. Virden continued with the momentum with Logan Rands scoring his first at 13:26 to give them the 2-0 lead headed into the second period.
The second period kicked off with Virden’s Tanner Andrew taking advantage if another power play to score his ninth at 7:41. With a 3-0 the Oil Capitals kept their momentum moving with Josh Belcher scoring his sixth at 8:58 to give a 4-0 lead to Virden. However Winkler pushed back with Trent Sambrook scoring his third at 12:23 making the score 4-1. A quick turn around and 25 seconds later Ian Tookenay scored his third cutting Virden’s lead to 4-2. Ian Tookenay scored again at 16:23 making the score just 4-3 for Virden. Another quick turnaround saw Jaden Townsend scoring his fifth just 30 seconds later making it a tie game headed into the third.
Kolten Kanaski scored his eleventh at just 0:47 to take back the lead at 5-4 for the Oil Capitals. Just a few minutes later at 3:11 Virden’s Tristan Thompson scored his fourth to give Virden the 6-4 lead. A little over a minute later at 4:26 Oil Capital Tanner Andrew scored his second of the game, tenth of the season to give Virden the 7-4 lead. Under 2 minutes later Winkler’s Bryce Krauter scored his third at 6:24 on the power play to make the score just 7-5 for the Oil Capitals. At 11:35 Jaden Townsend of the Flyers scored his second of the game, sixth of the season to make the score just 7-6 for Virden. With just 55 seconds left in the game Jaden Townsend scored his third of the game to tie up the game and forcing the overtime period. With the overtime being unsuccessful the game was forced to a shootout.
Tanner Andrew and Hunter Cloutier scored in the Oil Capitals shootout with just Justin Svenson scoring for the Flyers giving Virden the win with a 8-7 final score.
Virden’s Riley Wallace took home the win stopping 36 of 43 shots for a save percentage of 83.7%. Winkler’s Dorrin Luding took the loss stopping 17 of 24 shots for a save percentage of 70.8%.
Head Coach Tyson Ramsey had this to say after the weekend double header, “Certainly was important for our group to be able to get 3 of 4 points this weekend. Obviously not the way we would draw it up as we gave up leads in both games but certainly we have been more structured as a group over the last 3 games. Our special teams have been much better however we still take too many penalties and that is something we need to correct. We need to learn how to stay focused on our structure when we get a lead and be consistent for 3 periods but I like some of the steps we took as a group this weekend.”
In other news : Earlier this week, 20 year old goaltender Dalton Dosch asked to be traded. The club will work with Dosch on a trade that makes sense for the hockey club and for the player. Dosch has returned home awaiting a deal.